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Family Filmgoer 'Earth to Echo' a delightful adventure

Sentinel & Enterprise

Updated:
07/14/2014 06:47:39 AM EDT

By Jane Horwitz

Special to The Washington Post.

"Earth to Echo" (PG). A big, happy surprise from start to finish, "Earth to Echo" should delight kids 7 and older. One of the preteen heroes, Tuck, narrates and records the whole adventure on video. He and his best friends -- Alex, a sensitive foster kid, and Munch, a sweet OCD-ish hoarder -- will soon be separated. Their families must move because a new highway will level their Nevada subdivision. On their last night together, the boys tell little lies to their folks and set off into the desert on their bikes. They intend to follow a map that has popped up on their weirdly malfunctioning cellphones. The map leads to a tiny, beeping robotic creature from space. It looks like a cute clockwork owl, and they name it Echo. Following its beeped "yes" and "no" instructions, they take it to a barn, a pawnshop and a biker bar, where it magnetically grabs parts to fix itself. Grown-up government types are hunting for Echo, too, and won't let the kids get in their way.

The bottom line: There are threatening adults, car and bike chases and scenes in which Echo appears to be dying. Sober themes, such as Alex's foster-kid trust issues and Munch's compulsions, are treated honestly. One joke involves mild sexual innuendo.

"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" (PG-13). This sequel depicts tremendous violence. It stays barely within the PG-13 range by cutting back on close-ups of blood and guts and by keeping profanity and sexual innuendo to a minimum.

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Even so, more than a few middle-schoolers might find it too harrowing, especially in 3-D. High school fans of brainier sci-fi action flicks will probably be hooked. Ten years after the ape revolt that ended "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," most of humankind has been wiped out by "simian flu," a virus concocted by human scientists. The chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans that escaped bondage have settled in Muir Woods near San Francisco, led by their benevolent chimp hero, Caesar. They clash in the city with human survivors who want to reactivate a hydro-electric dam. Mistrust and vengeful renegades on both sides make it impossible for Caesar and the human peacemaker, Malcolm, to avert war.

The bottom line: Battles between apes and humans involve tremendous warlike gunplay, with many deaths of humans and animals depicted. Inter-species prejudice and grief over lost loved ones are key themes.

"Transformers: Age of Extinction" (PG-13). Teen fans of the "Transformers" franchise can get their fill of high-tech destruction and battered vehicles morphing into gigantic metal warriors. The film is fine for all teens, though it runs on endlessly -- and loudly. Cade, a broke Texas inventor, buys a junky old tractor-trailer rig and discovers it's a Transformer in hiding -- the good kind, an Autobot, not an evil Decepticon. Armed CIA guys in black SUVs descend on his property, demanding the Autobot. They even threaten to kill Cade's teenage daughter, Tessa. A shoot-out with guns and Transformer rockets breaks out in Cade's yard. Then the chase is on.

The bottom line: The digitally rendered 3-D mayhem involves massive damage, but we see almost no humans hurt or killed. Low-grade profanity peppers the dialogue -- there's much use of the S-word -- along with mild sexual innuendo involving Cade's misgivings about his daughter and her slightly older boyfriend.

"Snowpiercer" (Rated R): So violent that it is tough to watch at times, "Snowpiercer" nevertheless tells a stunning, thoughtfully conceived dystopian tale. It's not suitable for high-schoolers without parental permission. It is 2040, 17 years after a failed attempt to stop global warming resulted instead in a new ice age. The few human survivors live on a high-speed train that never stops. Its unseen owner, Wilford, has dictatorial powers, and the passengers are urged to worship the engine he invented. In the front cars live the toffs, lolling in hot tubs, eating gourmet food and using recreational drugs. In the rear cars live the grubby poor, who are treated like slaves and fed gelatinous "protein" bars. Curtis, a leader among the proles, plans an uprising. A faceoff with Wilford's spokesman ignites a bloodbath.

The bottom line: The mayhem, some of it stylized but most of it graphically realistic, includes bloody fights with clubs and axes, gun battles, point-blank executions, impalements and hacking off of arms. One character speaks of cannibalism that occurred early in the train's journey. There is strong profanity and repeated drug use.

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